


ACE Academy - Valerie After Story

by ForeverChasingDragons



Category: ACE Academy
Genre: But I'm not changing it now so he's got an apartment, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Not smut just yet, POV First Person, Romance, Uncle Kaito might actually live in a house apparently?, What Dishu Wouldn't Give Us, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2020-03-05 12:57:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForeverChasingDragons/pseuds/ForeverChasingDragons
Summary: Valerie x Reader in first personSome fluff set after Winter exams in ACE AcademyWill be worked on over time and isn't actually related to or based on Kaori After Story because I still haven't played it yet -_-Enjoy!





	1. Celebration Food

"So where are we going for celebration food?" asks Valerie as she turns to face me.

"I figured I'd let you choose because I picked last time."

"Hmmm, can we try one of your uncle's restaurants then?"

"Of course, we can go to the newest one, they have great burgers," I say, happy for any excuse to go to one of Uncle Kaito's restaurants.

"Do they have other food apart from burgers?" asks Valerie, clearly not impressed by the thought of a burger for her 'Celebration Food'.

"Errrr, I'm pretty sure they do, I've only ever eaten burgers there though," I confess with smile on my face that I hope will stop her from judging me too much for my burger problem.

"Good to see you're defying the stereotypes about Americans," she says with a grin.

"Hey! I don't judge you for eating a croissant so you can't judge me for eating burgers."

    Valerie just pouts and begins walking towards my bike. I take a few quick steps to catch up to her and I take her hand in mine, giving it a playful squeeze as I do. she glances at me and I see her pout melt into the smile that I've come to know so well.

    We walk along the pavement hand in hand, allowing the comfortable silence to be filled by the sound of excited ACE Academy students. Every student here is ready to start celebrating the end of their mid-term exams in some way. I have no doubt that many will be attending the parties being hosted in the campus dormitories, spending the night drinking with friends and dancing the hours away, an experience I'm not unfamiliar with thanks to my time at CINY. But it was never really for me, I'd rather spend the night with Valerie, enjoying the night together wrapped up in each other’s arms so that we can forget about everything that the last week has thrown at us.

"Are you even listening to me?" says Valerie, pulling me from my thoughts with a tug on my arm.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" I respond as I snap back to reality and away from my thoughts of tonight.

"I was asking if we could go back to yours after we've been out for our celebration food."

"Oh, yeah of course, I kind of assumed you would be to be honest with you."

"Look who's getting cocky, just assuming that he can get a girl like me to go back to his house with him," teases Valerie.

"Pfff, it’s not like it takes much to get you back to mine," I say with a grin.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" says Valerie sounding a little offended as she pulls her hand away from mine.

"It means that you have a boyfriend who is just so amazing that you can't keep your hands off him."

"Oh really? Well you can show me just how amazing you are later on then," she says with a glint in her eye.

"And just how would I do that?" I respond.

"By paying for dinner of course," she says, turning to face me again as we reach my bike.

"Just when I thought I was going to get lucky you go and shut me down like that."

    Valerie just laughs and takes the spare helmet from the bike before passing me mine. I pull the helmet on, the world becoming almost mute for a moment as a result of the noise-canceling padding. But then I tap the button at the side of the visor and the technology packed into the helmet springs into life and the microphones in the helmet allow the sounds of the outside world to be played into my helmet. The microphones mean that I don't have the hassle of using ear protection to prevent the noise of my bike's engine damaging my ears, but it certainly took some getting used to at first.

    I swing my leg over the bike and slide forwards on the seat a little to give Valerie enough room to get on the bike and be comfortable. She hops on behind me, wrapping her arms around me and pulling herself into me.

    With the familiar warmth of Valerie pressed against my back I press the button to start the engine, enjoying the roar that follows such a tiny action. I rev the engine a little, drawing a few looks from the other students around me along with a little laugh of excitement from Valerie. Then I pull away and follow the roads out of the ACE Academy campus and into the city of Isokaze where Uncle Kaito's restaurant is.

    I weave carefully through the traffic and make use of my bike's powerful engine when I make it to a piece of open road and so we make it to the restaurant in good time. It's on busy days like this that I really appreciate my bike's ability to weave through traffic, if I had a car we'd still be sat in the traffic. Although I can also see the appeal of having a roof over your head and if you have the money perhaps even some luxury seats. I certainly wish I was in a luxury car seat now rather than the slightly too hard saddle I'm currently perched on, although that's what I get for buying a sports bike rather than a cruiser.

    I pull myself from my thoughts as I coast into the motorbike parking area and into the nearest free space. I feel Valerie slide back on the bike as I cut the engine and she soon has her helmet off and she sets about fixing her hair with a brush and mirror that seemed to just appear in her hand out of thin air. I engage my bike's security system and I hear the familiar click of the steering lock pin falling into place. By the time I finish securing the bike and our helmets, Valerie is standing beside the bike adjusting the last few rogue strands of her silky, blonde hair.

"Stop messing with your hair, you look great," I say as I slowly begin to take a step in the direction of the entrance of the restaurant.

"Maybe, but we're on a date so I have to look amazing," she says as she snaps shut her foldable mirror.

"You always look amazing, and this is celebration food, not a date, so you aren't supposed to worry about anything, even how you look."

"Celebration food when its the two of us is a date," she says, linking her arm with mine as we walk towards the entrance. "It definitely has to be a date if you want to have any chance of 'getting lucky' as you so elegantly put it."

"A date it is then," I say with a grin, flattening an unruly patch of hair with my free hand as I do so.

"Oooh, so you only fix your hair if we're on a date," she says teasingly as we enter the restaurant.

    I stick my tongue out at her briefly and turn to the waiter standing near the door who greets us with a smile. I ask for a table for two and we are led to a table in the corner where two windows meet, allowing us to take in the unusually nice November weather. We thank the waiter as he hands us menus and I order us both lemonade much to Valerie's disappointment.

"What? Just because I won't order you something alcoholic," I say as the waiter leaves to get our drinks.

"You could treat me to one occasionally you know," she whines.

"I do, I got you loads of drinks at that Dasshu event," I argue.

"You got me two, and they were free! Not to mention severely lacking in the alcohol department."

"They were ciders, they weren't going to be serving shots at a business event."

"They should've been, it might've helped them negotiate some better deals."

"I don't think a bunch of drunk pilots would've secured any deals to be honest, you should just be grateful that they had cider."

    Our conversation is interrupted by the arrival of our lemonades, Valerie smiles and thanks the waiter, but as soon as he turns around she goes back to pouting at me. I just laugh and set about deciding what I'm going to eat, although I'm already pretty sure I'll be having a burger.

    I scan the menu for anything that I think might be worth trying and spot a few of my old favourites like pepperoni pizza and lasagne. I consider my options for a moment, but I soon decide that a barbecue pulled pork burger will be today's celebration food.

"Let me guess, you're having ..." begins Valerie but her voice trails off as she scans the menu again. "The deluxe burger?"

"Nope," I reply, glancing down at the menu to see what the deluxe burger is. The small caption describes a delicious sounding burger topped with cheese, bacon and a fried egg.

"Hmmm, the barbecue pulled pork burger?"

"That's the one," I say, smiling as I imagine the tender pork covered in the amazing barbecue sauce, it's so good that if I didn't know better I'd say it was the same sauce they used to use in my favourite restaurant back in America.

"Wipe the drool off your chin," says Valerie with a grin. And despite knowing that she is only teasing me I can't help but run my hand across my chin just to check which draws a giggle from Valerie.

"Anyway, have you decided what you're having?" I ask.

"Yep, I'm having the Hawaiian Pizza," she answers. "I haven't had pizza since I came to Isokaze so I'm taking the chance whilst I have it."

"Really? Not even once?"

"Nope, although that is because I spent most of the year trying to eat healthy stuff so there wasn't much chance for pizza."

"Well in that case we need to come here more often, a person can't live a pizza-less life, it’s just not right."

    Valerie laughs and then the waiter returns, and we place our order. We chat for a little while before our food arrives and then the conversation dies down for a short while as we both enjoy our meals.

    Once we finish our meals we sit around for a little while, chatting as we watch the people come and go around us. As we talk the evening turns into the night and the dusk light is replaced by the amber glow of the streetlights and the shining colours of the advertisements on the sides of the towering buildings that make up the center of Isokaze. Eventually, we decide that it is time to head home so I pay for our meals, much to Valerie's delight, and then I lead the two of us outside where we are greeted by the cold air and a biting wind. We quickly make our way back to my bike where Valerie once again takes the seat behind me, pulling herself closer to me to in an attempt to stay warm and shelter from the wind.

    We set off quickly into the night, making our way quickly along the edge of the city to avoid the worst of the rush-hour traffic. Seven in the evening is never a great time to be on the roads in Isokaze but by sticking to the outskirts of the city as we make our way to Uncle Kaito's apartment I'm able to avoid stopping too much which means we make it there in half the time it would usually take by going through the city center. Although it does leave us more exposed to the elements because there are fewer buildings to shelter us so by the time we arrive I feel more like a block of ice than a human being and judging by Valerie's shivering, she feels much the same way.

    We pull into the garage which is only slightly warmer than outside because it is apparently a waste of time heating it because people don't spend long enough in there according to the building manager. Personally, I think the amount of time I spend looking after my bike in there justifies the use of at least one radiator, but apparently, I don't pay the bills so I don't get a say. But my annoyance at the lack of heating in the garage is nothing new so I don't mention it Valerie, instead I do my best just to ignore the fact that I might one day walk in and see a frost covered bike inside the garage, and just focus on parking my bike up gently and securing it. After I've secured the bike and put away our helmets, I take Valerie's freezing cold hand in mine and we head toward the door that leads into the reception area for the apartment building.

"I can't feel my fingers or my feet," complains Valerie as we walk across the garage.

"Neither can I, it's freezing," I reply, doing my best to stop my teeth chattering.

"And its only November! God, I hope the heating is on inside," Valerie says, sounding more annoyed than I expected her to be, but I ignore it and just laugh as I open the door.

    As we enter the reception area, we are hit by a wall of hot air. Me and Valerie both relax as we feel ourselves begin to warm up, and, if the lack of feeling in my hands is anything to go by, quite possibly thaw out as well. We are outside of Uncle Kaito's apartment by the time we actually feel warm again though, although had Valerie not been hugging me so tightly in the lift on the way up it is entirely possible I would still feel freezing cold even now. I slip my hand from Valerie's and take out my key to unlock the door, but Valerie stops me just before I insert it into the lock.


	2. A Worry Put To Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valerie is worried about being accepted by the MC's family
> 
> [Right, I've rewritten this whole chapter since I first uploaded it so sorry if you had already read it. It's completely different and much better (in my opinion) now than it was before. I hope you enjoy!]

"Before we go in, can I ask you something?" Valerie says, looking up into my eyes.

"Of course you can, what's up?" I reply, a little taken aback by the serious look she has suddenly developed.

"Do your family actually... y'know," she begins but her voice trails off.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Do they what?" I ask jokingly, trying to lighten the tone a little bit, but Valerie's face makes it pretty clear that she's not about to break out in a fit of laughter any time soon.

"Y'know... do they actually like me?" her voice trails off again just as she seems to be explaining things but then it picks up again. 

"Of course they like you, it's impossible not to like you."

"No, it isn't, I do loads of things that they might not like."

"Like what? Sit around and be cute? Yeah, they must hate you," I say sarcastically.

"No you don't get it, stuff like the way I joke around and tease people," as she's speaking, Valerie glances around the hallway, doing her best to look everywhere but at me. I've never seen her act this way about something, she's always so confident.

"So you make some crude jokes and like to tease people, so what Val? That's no reason for them to not like you."

 

I reach out and take her hand in mine, and finally, she looks me in the eye, and she looks like she might cry.

"Val..." I begin before pulling her tightly into a hug. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'm just worried about it, things are getting serious between us now," she begins, letting herself be held by me, her hands resting against my chest. "I need them to like me."

"Well they do like you, and even if they didn't, I love you and that'll just have to be enough for them."

    I hear a slight sniff from Valerie as she buries her face against my chest, and I hold her as close as I can. I'd had no idea she was so worried about my family liking her. Sure her and Nikki don't always see eye to eye but that's not been an issue since Nikki got distracted by Yen, I mean Ken, dammit Uncle Kaito your dumb nickname stuck.

 

    Then I hear movement from the other side of the apartment door and I realise that we'd been having this conversation in the apartment building's hallway. I'd been so distracted by Valerie's sudden revelation that I hadn't even thought about how public we were making this. But before I have the chance to fix it, the door to Uncle Kaito's apartment opens and a familiar smile framed by a scraggly beard is there to greet us.

 

"Oh it's you two," Uncle Kaito says, and then he seems to realise that this isn't a conversation he should be part of. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Sort o..." I begin but Valerie pulls away from me and interrupts before I can finish my sentence.

"No, we were just having a moment," she says, sniffing slightly as she wipes away the beginnings of tears from her eyes.

"Are you okay Valerie? You look like you've been..." Uncle Kaito starts, but clearly thinks better of it and changes course. "It doesn't matter, come inside, you have a bedroom for fluffy romantic moments, honestly, kids these days just have no idea how to treat a girl."

    Valerie manages a small laugh and takes my hand again. Together we head inside, herded through the door by Uncle Kaito. We quickly take off our heavy winter coats and boots, leaving them near the entrance of the apartment before entering the lounge. Valerie says something about needing the toilet and quickly disappears off before Uncle Kaito enters the lounge. And not a moment after she leaves my sight, Uncle Kaito appears.

 

"You kids good?" he asks me, taking a seat on the sofa.

"Yeah, she's worrying about stuff for no reason is all."

    I perch myself on the back of the sofa and begin explaining the brief outburst to Uncle Kaito, who seems just as perplexed as me about the whole thing. But before we can discuss it anymore, Valerie returns, her makeup fixed where the few tears had made it run.

 

"Sorry about that, so what are you guys talking about?" she asks, seemingly back to her normal self.

I hesitate, trying to come up with an answer, and Uncle Kaito takes the opportunity to answer for me.

"Oh, I was just saying how lucky we are that my charming nephew is finally settling down."

 

Really? He had all the options in the world and that's the one he went for?

 

"Who's finally settling down?" says a woman's voice from just outside the lounge.

"I am apparently," I say as Aunt Yuuki enters the room, throwing her scarf and coat over the back of a chair.

"Oh I'm so happy for the two of you!" she exclaims and rushes over to hug me and Valerie. "So when's the wedding?"

"Excuse me?!" me and Valerie say in unison.

"It's true, you should marry her if you want to keep a girl as nice as Valerie," says Uncle Kaito.

 

I see Valerie blush a little at the compliment as Aunt Yuuki releases us, and I finally begin to catch on to Uncle Kaito's plan.

 

"We're not getting married just yet Aunt Yuuki," I say.

"Oh that's a shame, Valerie's so sweet," she says, looking almost disappointed, but then her smile returns. "I suppose I would need time to find an outfit for a wedding though, so maybe it's for the best."

"Wait, you'd be okay with us getting married?" asks Valerie, a shocked expression on her face.

"Oh, of course, you both seem so happy together, and it's never too early to tie the knot," answers Aunt Yuuki.

 

I can't believe my ears. I am massively unprepared for this, am I supposed to propose soon? I thought I had so much time.

 

"There's nothing wrong with waiting," says Uncle Kaito. "But Yuuki's right you know, you two do seem happy together."

"We are," says Valerie taking my hand and smiling sweetly at me.

    I smile back at her and pull her a little closer, but before Aunt Yuuki continues trying to marry the two of us, Uncle Kaito chimes in again and does his best to get us out of being married off in his living room.

"Anyway, do you think you two could go and be lovey-dovey in another room, I need to finish off these accounts for the new restaurant and that's stressful enough without having to worry about paying for weddings."

"Right, we'll leave you to it," I say and we head off to my bedroom, leaving Aunt Yuuki to pester him by herself. Something she is more than capable of.

 

    We make it into my room without any more interruptions and Valerie quickly throws herself onto her bed, the smile on her face the polar opposite of how she had looked just a few minutes ago outside the apartment. Clearly all Aunt Yuuki's talk of wanting us to get married had alleviated her worries.

    Whilst Valerie relaxed on my bed, I tidied up some of the dirty clothes I had left lying around and piled them into a corner. As I picked up the dirty t-shirts and days old underwear however, I couldn't help but wonder how Uncle Kaito had managed that. Somehow he had convinced Valerie that he and Yuuki liked her, and yet he had barely said anything to her. Admittedly Aunt Yuuki suggesting marriage probably helped but still, how on Earth had he pulled it off? There's no way he could have planned on Yuuki arriving at that exact moment.

    I make a mental note to ask if he meant to do that or just got lucky, but I knew already I'd never get a serious answer from him. Regardless, I was grateful, I had no idea what I was going to do to convince Valerie when we were in the hallway.


	3. Interrupted Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Valerie and the MC settle in for the night, Nikki somehow finds a way to ruin their fun.

Since Aunt Yuuki telling us she wants the two of us to get married, Valerie seems to have forgotten all about her worries. In fact, shes the most relaxed I've seen her for a while. As I tidy the room I notice her watching me with a smile on her face, looking perfectly content lying there as I busy myself trying to make my room look like it's at least vaguely habitable.

"Can I help?" I ask with a grin, wondering what she could be thinking.

"Nope," she says playfully. "I'm just enjoying the view."

"Of me flinging dirty underwear across the room?" I respond, an eyebrow raised.

"Don't be silly, I'm just watching my husband-to-be doing such a good job looking after our home."

I almost immediately freeze up at the word husband, and Valerie immediately bursts out laughing.

"You should see the panic on your face," she cries, sitting up as she gets her laughter under control. "Don't worry I'm not expecting you to propose to me."

"Thank god," I say, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'll be the one that proposes instead."

"Maybe hold off on that for just a little while? I don't think I'm quite ready yet," I say, whilst I'm fairly sure she's joking, sometimes it can be difficult to tell.

"I suppose I can," she says, feigning disappointment. "A messy bedroom is hardly the best place for it anyway, we should at least go to a fancy restaurant and hope they give us our meal for free."

I laugh, partly at her scheming, but mostly at the relief of not having to worry about marriage. As we talk I cross the room and join her on the bed, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to me.

Soon enough we end up lying together, our bodies intertwined in a comfortable embrace. It feels like it was days ago that I was in an exam hall, sitting the last of my mid-terms when in reality, it was only this afternoon. Even the meal at Uncle Kaito's restaurant feels like a long time ago now. But stressful days will do that, and between my exam and Valerie's sudden confession of worry, today certainly qualified as a stressful day.

 

Just as I'm beginning to drift off to sleep, there's a knock at the door to my room, followed by the voice of Uncle Kaito: "Can I come in?"

"Go for it," I reply sleepily.

With a yawn, I roll over and away from Valerie to face the door. Uncle Kaito enters and laughs.

"Oh, am I keeping you up?" he jokes.

"You are actually," I respond with a slight grin.

"That's good, it means this won't change anything then."

"What won't?"

"I need you two, or at least one of you to stay up for a bit," Kaito explains. "Nikki went out with dear old Ken and forgot to take her keys with her, so one of you will need to let her in when she gets back."

"Really? Can't she just stay at his instead?"

"No, she's too innocent to stay at a boys house," says Aunt Yuuki as she enters the room.

"I'm staying at a boys house tonight though?" chimes in a sleepy-looking Valerie from behind me. "Do you not think I'm innocent?"

"Of course you are Valerie, it's my dear nephew that's corrupted you," Yuuki teases.

"Yeah right," I say sarcastically whilst Valerie looks pleased with herself.

"Anyway," says Uncle Kaito, attempting to get things back on track. "Would you mind staying up, we both have work tomorrow so we have to be up early."

"Sure, we can do it," says Valerie.

"Thank you, Valerie," says Aunt Yuuki.

"Goodnight then you two," says Kaito, before directly looking at me. "Make sure you let your sister in quickly, I don't want to be woken up by an angry Nikki who had to stand outside in the cold."

I promise to let her in as quickly as possible. The last thing I need today is to have Nikki being angry with me, I've had enough stress for one day. With that, the two of them head off to bed, leaving me and Valerie to find something to keep us occupied until Nikki makes it home.

 

"I was just falling asleep as well," sighs Valerie, brushing stray hairs out of her face.

"Me too, but I guess we're staying up for a little longer."

The two of us drag ourselves out of bed, looking somewhat dishevelled with our bed-head and wrinkled up clothes. Knowing it's going to be a while before Nikki gets back, I decide to change into something more comfortable and dig some pyjamas out of my drawer.

As I take my top off to change, I suddenly feel a cold pair of hands on my chest, sending a shover down my spine before Valerie pulls herself close into my back.

"My my, what confidence," she purrs. "Just ripping your top off right in front of me."

I know she's only teasing me but I can't help but play along.

"Well, I thought you might need something to wake you up a bit," I tease.

"That's not worked then has it, because all I want to do now is get into bed with you."

I stiffen a little (not like that you pervert... okay maybe a little like that). Could Valerie really be suggesting... But before my mind can wander any further, she giggles and pulls herself away from me.

"Ah you should be so lucky," she says, looking pleased with herself as I turn to face her. "Oh don't look so put out, if you behave yourself you might be in luck."

"I'm behaving right now," I say, but even I'm not entirely convinced by it.

"Has it? Well, that's a shame, I guess you're missing out today then."

I sigh, knowing that Valerie would happily tease me like this until we went back to ACE. I carry on changing, Valerie also swapping her normal clothes for pyjamas, but only after I promise not to peek whilst she changes. So I sit at my desk and somehow resist the temptation to try and glance over without being noticed.

"Well aren't you a good boy?" she says, patting me on the head once she's changed. "You didn't peek once."

"What am I, a dog?" I ask, looking up at her from my chair.

"Well you're cute, you're hair is nice and fluffy, and you're obedient," she says, listing things off a little too quickly for my liking.

"Great, so all I'm missing is a collar right?" I say sarcastically.

"That could be arranged," Valerie says, almost purring the words as she places a hand under my chin, tilting my head back a little.

For a brief moment, I get lost in the deep blue of her eyes, forgetting to even respond to her. Then she giggles and shakes her head before speaking again.

"Honestly, you'd let me put a collar on you if I tried."

"I would no..." I begin, but my argument trails off in my mind before any more words can form. "Okay maybe I would, but only because you wore one first."

"Excuse me? When did I wear a dog collar?"

"Not a dog collar, but the cat bell on your Halloween costume wasn't floating in the air," I say with a grin, thinking back to what a sight that outfit had been.

Valerie blushes a little, but doesn't falter, "You are right, but I seem to remember you hanging on my every word whilst I was wearing it too."

"And I would again if you were dressed like that."

Valerie's flushed cheeks turn a little redder and she plants a gentle kiss on my lips before pulling back ever so slightly.

"Maybe if you're lucky you'll see me in it again soon," she whispers.

With that she kisses me again, her lips pressing against mine as she climbs onto my lap. My hands move instinctively, one to her back holding her gently, and the other under her leg, pulling her closer to me.

 

Her hands press on my chest, one of them slowly making its way down and slipping under my shirt. I feel the cold of her hand against my stomach, causing me to tense up a little, drawing a smirk from Valerie as her hand caresses my abs.

I pull away from her lips and begin tracing a line down her neck with gentle kisses of my own. Valerie gasps slightly, the hand still on my chest wrapping around me as she tries to pull herself closer. But as my hand starts making its way down her back, we are both pulled from the moment by the loud ringing of my phone on the desk.

"Damn it," I murmur. "Just when it was getting good."

Still entangled with Valerie, I reach my hand over to my desk and fumble for my phone. As I attempt to retrieve it, Valerie rests her head on my shoulder, her arms now wrapped around my chest as she settles from the excitement of mere seconds ago.

 

Eventually, I find my phone on the desk and slide my finger across the screen to accept the call. Without even looking at the Caller ID, I answer:

"Hi Nikki."

"Hey big bro."

"You need me to let you in?"

"Weeeell, sort of."

"What do you mean sort of?"

"I um... kinda just missed the last bus back from Ken's."

"You can't be serious."

"Sorry!" she cries, and then her voice changes to the innocent helpless sister act she has perfected over the years. "Could you come and pick me up?"

I sigh deeply, and I feel Valerie's arms loosen a little as she realises she will have to let me go.

"I'm already in my pyjamas you know."

"I'm sorry! I lost track of the time okay, I can always get a taxi back."

"Not when you're on your own. Send me the address, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks big bro, you're the best."

 

And just like that, she hangs up. Putting an end to our conversation as abruptly as she had ended my fun with Valerie. I lean my head on the back of my chair, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about what could have been.

But even that doesn't last as my phone pings with a message from Nikki containing Ken's address. Slowly, I lean forwards, being careful not to push Valerie off the chair as I do so.

"I'll be here when you get back, don't worry," Valerie whispers as she sits up, releasing me from her arms.

"I know, but I'd much rather carry on now instead of later," I complain.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder you know," Valerie says with a smirk. "Plus you have to get changed again so I get to enjoy the view before you leave."

"And what do I get from that?"

"The reassurance that there's no one else I'd rather see topless?"

I raise an eyebrow at her, pretending to be unimpressed with her answer, but it does give me a nice feeling inside. Knowing I have to leave, I help Valerie off my lap and begin changing back into my clothes from earlier, making sure my shirt is the first thing off and the last thing I put back on just to keep Valerie happy.

I turn to Valerie and give her a quick kiss, having to use all my willpower not to be drawn back into our earlier activities.

"I'll be back soon," I say as a turn to leave.

"Okay, be careful," Valerie says. "Love you."

"Love you too."

I pull the door to my bedroom shut, and set out into the cold of the world once again, only this time, Valerie wouldn't be huddled against me to keep me warm.


End file.
